A thunderous roar deafened the room leaving it's inhabitants hugging the ground for safety, praying that they would be able to open their eyes in the aftermath. As the dust settles Catherine slowly looked around to check the room, the windows were broken and a large crater was formed from where the grenade landed. Luckily no one was hurt from the blast, unluckily people were still hurt from before.
Miley got up with help from Engie, she rubbed her head as she hit it on the way down. Groans of discomfort and the moans of those that had lost their friends from the earlier scuffle had now replaced the ringing of the explosion.
"Are we good?" Miley stumbled around. "I mean I know we aren't good but are we fine? For now?"
No one replied. Remembering what had happened to Silver, Engie quickly made her way towards her injured comrade who was propped motionlessly next to the wall. She had suffered damages to the sternum of her plating and it looks like she was caught in the blast.
"S-Silver?" She was too afraid to touch her. Either there would be no response, the worst-case scenario, or she would accidentally break something. The girl clenched her fists, now was not the time to be worrying about damaging the body she needed to do her job and repair her teammates. With slight hesitation she grabbed onto Silver's arm and tried to gently lay her down where it would be easier to do the repairs.
"Cut it out I'm not dead!" Her eyes opened revealing a faint dark blue glow.
Engie breathed a sigh of relief and helped her get up. The rest of the UCNA soldiers gathered around them as they try to collect themselves.
"What the shit do we do now?" Miley had every right to complain considering the mess they were in.
"We should go after the culprits, they shouldn't be too far." Silver suggested, her sense of duty as detective made her want to see it through to the end.
"But what about those US assholes? Those bitches picked a really good time to sneak in on us, we should pay them back."
"Sorry Miley but I kinda agree with Silver, they got their pal back so they should leave us alone for now. Bill and other two are our current problem." Catherine casted her vote.
"They haven't left us alone since that big dumbass battle! We haven't even really retaliate against them, we've just been taking their blows!"
"We'll get em back later!"
"Cath... I'm still a little bit peeved about that basketball game so-"
"Is that why you want to kill them so badly? Because they beat us in basketball?" Catherine smirked at her friend.
"No! It's not just because of basketball, they're taunting us! I mean look at it, they had so many chances to take one of us out but they end up clowning on us instead! They've used a grenade launcher and rocket to blow open our doors and then drive off, they've snuck in and fooled us with their dumb disguises, not to mention those fuckers totally cheated in that basketball game. How are we suppose to know that one of them is a basketball superstar?" She punched the wall next to her putting a dent in it.
"I get what you're saying... but please calm down." Catherine gently patted Miley's shoulder.
The cultists were now staring at them, any kind of life they once had had left their eyes. Noticing their gazes, Engie nervously laughed and waved at them.
"How can we even catch up to the US soldiers? We don't have a vehicle remember?" Silver pointed out.
"Woah you're right!" Catherine nodded. "Why weren't you this perceptive when you were doing your detective bit?"
"S-shut up. I just kinda messed up a little..."
Thinking it over for a bit, Miley agreed that she was being rash and that going after the culprits is, arguably, the better choice. As the group came to an agreement they now had another problem at hand. Where did they go?
"I don't mean to be rude but Bill is a bit tubby so they can't have gotten far, we can catch them if we go now!" Catherine was about to run off before being stopped by Miley.
"Do you know what direction they were even going?"
"They headed that way!" Annie popped up and pointed east. They finally remembered that they were missing someone since she wasn't with them during the last part of the investigation.
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"What? Really?" Miley said in disbelief. "How do you know?"
"Well I saw Bill, Sammy and Heaven leave when I went to get guns." The large android showed off her machine gun while tossing down a bag full of stuff. "I heard some noises so I thought we might need these!"
"That's the smartest thing anyone here has done all day." Silver remarked.
"Thanks!"
"I take back what I previously said, for a guy with that big of a gut he's pretty fast! They already left the building." Catherine was impressed.
They grabbed what they can from the bag from battery cells to grenades, it might be considered overkill to prepare this much against a group of three human beings but since Bill had an electric weapon going overkill was their safest option. As they got set to go out, a familiar figure ran up to them.
"So can I tag along?" Doogledert smiled.
"Wouldn't it be safer if you stayed here? They're people still looking for you right?" Catherine turned to reply to him.
"Umm Those at the Threshold is currently going through a... shake-up of sorts." He anxiously chuckled and made a motion with his hands. "It's a tough time to be them considering what was revealed and what had happened so I wouldn't blame them if some were to... lose it. I just don't want to be here when it happens."
"I get what you're saying but shouldn't someone stay to keep them in check?" Miley didn't even glance over as she checked her gun. "We could give you a weapon if you want."
Doogledert waved off the suggestion and he continue to plead to join them on their little revenge trip. Engie once again looked back on the cult members just huddled together, they were still people and from what she had seen they had formed a tight-knit community though they could have chosen a saner thing to devote their life to.
"I'll stay behind." Engie raised her hand much to the surprise of everyone present.
"You don't have to if you don't want to." Silver could tell that she was scared to stay.
"It's okay... I can't do much in battle anyways." A faint smile appeared on her face. "Don't worry I can provide support through the radio."
"Damn it they should be long gone by now because we kept talking." Miley kicked the ground causing quite a bit of dust to fly up. "Alright Professor stick close to us."
As they finally headed down the hallway, Annie turned back to wave goodbye to Engie.
"Any clue on where they're heading Silver?" Miley asked while they rushed down the stairs. "Samantha must have said something when she was with you."
"Nope, nothing. Or at least I think so... we only talked about what was happening on the screen." Silver shook her head. They were just hanging out, if Sam had any evil intentions she was really good at hiding it.
"Can you slow down!" An exhausted voice called out to them once they reach the bottom floor.
Looking up they could see Doogledert making his way down, he was lagging behind them a few steps. Few in this case means 'by a large margin', to not make fun of his athletic capabilities we will continue to use this new definition just for him and only him. It took him a few seconds to finally reach the androids who were impatiently waiting.
"Sorry I haven't worked out since-" He gasped for air. "College. You girls are really fast I'm starting to think I won't be able to keep up ha ha."
"Annie can you carry the Professor with you?" As soon as Miley finished saying that Annie grabbed Doogledert and lifted him over her shoulder. "Also don't complain because the other option is leaving your ass here."
"You won't find any complaints from me..." He said uncomfortably.
They continued their chase but a thought was still stuck to the back of their minds, where are they going? If they were US spies they would have left with them or at least be heading in the direction of their base but they aren't. And Former North Dakota is so far away from civilization that they would have to travel a long way to reach even a small village, it's located in a large scar of land plainly called The Fracture that travels through the middle of North America splitting the West and the East up with neither the USA or UCNA owning any parts of it. Outside of the two bases located in it there really isn't any other structure that they could make their way to. Except...
"The secret Scottish base!" Catherine proclaimed after narrowing down the only 3 places in the area. "They went east right? Making a break for the UCNA borders on foot with no food is a mega deathwish and the only other place east is the underground base."
"Yeah... YEAH! Haven knows the direction too so he can lead them there!" Miley was amped-up, they had them figured out. "Even with weapons they're still human, without a vehicle any direction would be suicide."
"I have a minor in psychology and I have to agree with you. Given what they know and the fact that they are still 'sane', I'm saying that with air quotations, their best course of action would be to bunker in the Institute." Doogledert agreed and it's not just because he wants to go to the Scottish base, though it did play a huge part.
"They wouldn't just go there to hide would they?" Silver had doubts.
"Well I guess the whole murder thing really screwed them over so this is the best choice they got." Miley flung open the door as they reached the eastern entrance of their base. "Damn I really wish we still had a car..."
It was a long trip to get to the Institute the last time but now they wouldn't be wandering aimlessly since they marked it down on the map. They might even get there before Bill and the others unless Haven has really good memory.
"Maybe they want the alien? I know I would want the alien." Annie thought about the potential of having the Loch Ness Monster as an alien buddy.
"It's dead. What the hell could they do with a corpse?" Miley shot down that idea.
"People have interesting kinks Miley." Catherine smiled.
"Yeah I'm ignoring you now Cath."
"You all are taking the fact that the Loch Ness Monster is an alien really well." Doogledert expressed his surprise. "I'm still completely stunned by it while you're acting like it's natural."
"We have plenty more to worry about than the existence of aliens." The top priorities for Miley right now is to first get revenge on the culprits after that it's to get revenge on the US soldiers.
"An alien invasion would be so much cooler than what we got..." Silver complained.
With a destination in mind, the group continued on.